Bondage performance art & my creative process

BOUND TO BE FREE

by Skye Avalon

My creative process begins with a vision of my body tied in ropes and an idea of what I want to communicate. For instance, I might want to explore ideas about sexual confidence, intimacy between two people, or the power of vulnerability. I imagine my body’s movement, position and facial expression and the rope ties around my body as a blank canvas for expressing these ideas. The ropes’ binding symbolizes surrender, love, healing, interpersonal power dynamics and strength through constraint. The ropes also magnify the beauty of the human body. The rope is adapted as an adornment and tied along my body’s natural curves in beautiful geometric patterns. The pressure applied from the cords and the knots in the ropes is similar to Shiatsu pressure techniques and can promote energy flow in the body, as well as a feeling of safety and relaxation. The pressure of the ropes also stimulates the release of hormones and can strengthen relationships.[1]

Good intimacy and communication with my bondage partner is important when we envision a rope bondage “scene” to be photographed and painted. My concerns, thoughts, worries, and emotions must be honest and clear so that my partner can help me enter a psychological state that is similar to a flow experience of many performers, musicians, and athletes. Shibari is also an excellent way to transcend the limits of the body and the idea of a physical self through altered states of consciousness. Altered states help me empathically express my performance experience more authentically within my paintings.[2] A bondage performance requires athletic physicality and thus the resulting photos are the body in movement or animated suspense.

My intimate connection and sensual relationship with my boyfriend-photographer inspires me emotionally throughout my creative process. My lover-photographer is lovingly arranging my hair after a rope session. On the other hand, I hire my professional rigger for my performances. It is very important I trust my rigger to follow my instructions so I can relax my body and enjoy the experience. My ability to transcend pain is based on my capacity to stop conscious thinking and go into an altered state. Once I have a vision and idea of what I want to communicate, I research photos of bondage positions and rope ties that will best express my creative concepts. Next, I sketch and email my ideas and samples of possible poses to my rope master. For example, a photograph of a traditional Shibari pose that I shared with my rigger in preparation for the photoshoot for my painting Spiritual Inversion. My concept sketch is sent to the rigger to determine whether or not the pose could be safely tied. He confirms whether or not he can safely execute the ties on my body within a three-hour time frame during a photoshoot. Because of the focused physical and mental requirements required for me and my rigger, there is a limit to how much time we have before fatigue becomes a safety issue. After the photoshoot, I review the photos and select my favorites to be painted as finished oil paintings and photos to post on social media to discuss my creative process.

Using a slide projector, a photographic image I want to paint is projected for sizing. Next, I have an ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) plastic sheet ordered from a local plastic manufacturer and cut in the final dimensions envisioned. ABS is a very good support for oil paints because it is archival, lightweight and has a smooth, hard surface. I like to work large—slightly under life size—in order to engage my viewers, so they will feel as if they were at the live performance. I sand and paint directly onto the thin plastic panel with oil paints. A primer is not needed. The oil paint dries more quickly on ABS than it does on canvas. Alternatively, I paint on large canvas panels for easier storage and shipping. The paint is built up from thin to fat in up to four layers. The last two layers are glazed. Sometimes I support the panel with linen or quality cotton canvas or wood. My main concerns are a light support for portability and a surface texture that is smooth and firm so I can apply a lot of pressure with my brushes. I use two different types of paintbrushes. One is made of stiff hog hair bristles for block-ins. The other is a finer synthetic paintbrush for detailed glazing. The firm bristles of the hog hair and the smooth firm texture of the ABS canvas allow me to work quickly and vigorously to paint in the overall concept. As a clairsentient, the pressure on the brushes helps me channel my emotion onto the canvas. The  pressure is cathartic like rope bindings pulling on my flesh. I don’t have to slow down and carefully think about the anatomical details until later when I switch to finer brushes. 

Sometimes the colors will change as well as the backgrounds depending on how I feel about the the painting as it evolves. I use a few more oil paint colors than the Zorn palette. Anders Zorn was a Swedish artist who used four colors to paint: ivory black, white, vermillion and yellow ochre. For my own palette I add ultramarine blue, viridian, burnt umber and alizarin. I use a limited color palette because it is more dramatic when the viewer’s eyes are limited to a tonal band, rather than the full color spectrum. Tonal value is more important than hue. It gives more structure and anatomical detail to the human body than working with many colors.[1]

The compositional balance I want to achieve in my paintings is based on the principles of sacred geometry. Sacred geometry is applied to my compositions as a conceptual and investigative tool. It is also known as the Golden Ratio and involves a mathematical formula that is patterned after nature.[2] Johannes Vermeer used a Golden Ratio in his painting Woman with a Lute. Since a single human figure is the principle focal point of most of my paintings as it is in Vermeer’s painting, I integrate any additional elements in the background or foreground into a template based on these design principles.[3] For example, in my painting Wonder Woman, her fists and the cuff on her wrists are the main focus of the painting. These elements fall within or near the four intersecting corners within a simplified grid of the Golden Ratio. I use this simplified method for the Golden Ratio to quickly assess where to place the focal points of a painting. For my final layers, I use the old masters’ techniques of glazing because it achieves a beautiful illumination through the use of chiaroscuro. The illumination achieved in the painting lets the viewer know the human figure is important. 

During the Baroque Period (1600-1750), lighting was used to create an effect like a radiant circle or a halo that was symbolically understood as representing the divine presence or an important deity.[4] For instance, in Zurbaran’s painting, The Apparition of the St. Peter to St. Peter Nolasco, there seems to be a halo all the way around the cross, emphasizing the ghost, spirit or vision of the Apostle Saint Peter (see fig. 39). By humanizing the figures with contemporary emotions and natural attire, Zurbaran was able to depict saints and monks as ordinary people. He used the divine light of the halo to make the Logos of Christ more accessible to common people. By doing this, he establishes a link between the mythic realm of St. Peter and the viewer, who is a participant in the duality.[5] In my painting, Spiritual Inversion, my purpose is similar. I am surrounding the central figure with a halo of light to reflect my belief that we are all god(esses) in human bodies. In each photoshoot, I explore my personal power in partnership with my photographer-lover and through a consensual power exchange of creative experimentation. Performing and painting my rope bondage scenes is transformational and energetically cathartic. In the process, I remember I am the mystery of the beloved that can never be fully known.  

  CONCLUSION

What I have learned through my creative, healing process is sexual identity is an essential part of my self-identity. When the feminine aspects of my self-identity as a woman were shamed, diminished, and objectified, I unconsciously sacrificed my authenticity in order to fit in with cultural expectations. I have spent much of my life learning about the power of the goddess then reclaiming my feminine self-identity. As a woman I hope to convey in my artworks that every person has the right to determine their own moral authority. Bondage has taught me that how I express myself, who I love and how I love is my choice. 

[1] Frédérike Labrecque, "What Is So Appealing About Being Spanked, Flogged, Dominated, or Restrained? Answers from Practitioners of Sexual Masochism/Submission," in The Journal of Sex Research (2020): 1-10.

[2] Frédérike Labrecque, "What Is So Appealing About Being Spanked, Flogged, Dominated, or Restrained? Answers from Practitioners of Sexual Masochism/Submission," in The Journal of Sex Research (2020): 3.

[1] James Gurney, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (2010), 76.

[2] Sacred geometry has its roots in the study of nature and is based on the natural significance of geometric forms (Lieben 5).

[3] John Lieben, Sacred Geometry for Artists, Dreamers and Philosophers: Secrets of Harmonic Creation (Inner Traditions, 2018), 13.

[4] Christopher Stratman, "Religion, Art and Myth-Making: The Halo as an Aesthetic Expression of Ultimate Reality" in JCCC Honors Journal (2010): 64.

[5] Christopher Stratman, "Religion, Art and Myth-Making: The Halo as an Aesthetic Expression of Ultimate Reality" in JCCC Honors Journal (2010): 64.